


Five Senses

by LoadingScreen



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-11 22:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2086179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoadingScreen/pseuds/LoadingScreen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heroes should be independent, but after an injury makes this difficult for Danny Phantom he is forced into a partnership with the one girl determined to be a damsel in distress, even if she has to recreate her saviour from the ground up. They soon discover far bigger things that were holding him back. Shallow Sapphire, Danny/Paulina.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What proceeds is my first attempt at an actually postable fanfic. It's Shallow Sapphire, which is completely different from my usual Swagger Bishie shipping, but I'm just in love with this pairing at the moment and wanted to dive into a good, long fanfic to shake some of the cobwebs off my old love of this show. I'm hopefully looking to get some feedback- criticism is wholly welcome and begged for- and every comment is loved! I really hope the fact that this show ended a few years ago doesn't mean the fandom has gone dark.
> 
> Also, once this story is done with, I'm totally down for some advice on which pairing to take on next :).

  
If Danny had needed to breathe, the thick summer air would have caked his throat with moisture. It was a relief to take to the sky and get the breeze running through his hair, to have all the heat-generating systems in his body shut down and empty him out. The humidity settled over his mouth and nose and he felt nothing but sympathy for the sleepless, sticky people below as he crossed over the rooftops of Amity Park. He could hear traffic murmuring from the downtown roads, their headlights rippling as if they were deep underwater. A dark shape cut him from the air and as the breeze whipped past him he let out a yelp and snatched up his thermos. He snapped around the face his hunter as the night sky lit with rumbling. Ghost motorbikes sounded exactly like regular ones.  
  
    "Alright, Johnny, for the last time will you stay in the Ghost Zone?" He turned himself upright and darted back and forth, trying to pick Johnny's shadow out from the backdrop of darkness. He saw it bolt out the corner of his eye and swung around, thermos raised, only to see Johnny himself meet him in midair, still on his bike, with his hands up.  
  
    "Woah, woah! Easy tiger, I'm not looking for a fight. Shadow's just tense, that's all." Danny kept his distance. Something bothered him about the way the other ghost looked. Johnny appeared as smug and untrustworthy as always but his face had a long-term fear beneath it that he hadn't caused.  
  
    "Where's your girlfriend? You have another fight?"  
  
    Johnny looked offended, his soft voice lowering. "What, you think just because we're not joined at the hip I've screwed up? She's just stayin' at her mom's, but seeing as I'm not welcome back there anymore I figured I'd kill time where it's safer, dig?"  
  
    "Where it's safer? Have I been getting soft on you lately?" Danny cocked his head, trying to read Johnny's sense of dread.  
  
    "Even when you do win -which ain't exactly a sure thing, pipsqueak- all you do is stuff me in a damn thermos and send me home." He raised an eyebrow, then paused. His mocking expression fell to one of shock. "Dude, haven't you ever heard of Mistvir?"  
  
    "Who?"  
  
    Johnny leaned against the handlebars of his bike and fixed Danny with a patronizing expression. Danny puffed out his chest. "You know how Skulker's all about being 'the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter' and everything?" Johnny made midair quotes with gloved fingers, slumping his shoulders with his eyes rolling in deep sarcasm. "Well imagine him but, like, with a reason to be pissed off. I didn't stick around for the history lesson, but he's a ghost on a one-man ghost genocide."  
  
    "Why would he do that?" asked Danny, fully involved with Johnny's story. He crossed his legs in midair and leaned forward. A breeze was beginning to pick up. It pulled away the heat that had settled on their skin and rustled through their hair .  
  
    "Because he's a nutjob- how would I know? I'm just staying the Hell away. Tell you what-" Johnny started his bike back up and prepared to slip away. "If you let me hang out here for a couple days until this all blows over, I'll gladly turn myself in the next time we cross. How's that for a deal?"  
  
    Danny was about to rebuff the compromise but caught himself reconsidering. His gut instinct told him the other ghost was being sincere. It wasn't worth the added struggle in a night as hot as this one. "Fine, but you've got to behave. No looting, kidnapping or turning human girls into girlfriend mannequins."  
  
    "Deal." Johnny gave him a mocking salute before tearing off through the air, his shadow in close pursuit.   
  
  
*  
  
  
Danny felt very uncomfortable around Sam's parents. He, Sam and Tucker would laugh about the way they thought he was a 'bad influence' when they were on neutral ground, and Danny liked the feeling of being disapproved of by a girl's straight-edge parents. However, when he was forced into their company the glares just made him shy.  
  
    "Guys, I'm serious," Sam held a leaflet like a dishcloth, flapping it about with wide, unhappy gestures, "I'm not going to this getaway camp by myself- if they're going to indoctrinate me I'm not going down alone." Tucker tried to follow the brochure's typeface but it moved too fast. He snatched it out of the air and unfolded it.  
  
    "Purity rings and oaths of loyalty? Count me out. I don't even love my own parents that much. Danny?"  
  
    "No way," Danny glanced at it, scanning down the cute characters and Bible verses. He could practically smell the coffee mornings. "As much as I'd like to spend a fortnight with your parents at some bizarre cult, I've got to stay here. This town wouldn't last five seconds without Inviso-Bill. Oh hey," he grinned at Tucker and pointed to a watercolour painting of a young man, "Sure was nice of them to include one black guy."  
  
    Tucker rolled his eyes. "Right?" After a few seconds he sighed and handed the leaflet back to Sam. "Fine. But you owe me something huge. I don't know what that something is yet, but I'll let you know when I think of it." Sam looked incredibly relieved.  
  
    "Thanks, Tuck. You can consider it my next three Christmas gifts."   
  
    "That depends. Do I have to get baptised?"  
  
    Danny watched them barter, leaning back on the tablecloth they'd spread on the grass. Tucker had been going through a weird baking phase that none of them quite understood and the shattered remains of his projects were laid bare to the sunlight in Tupperware containers. They'd had to take the brownies, muffins and shortbread to the park- you couldn't take baked goods anywhere near the Fenton homestead when Jack was home. Sam's voice brought his attention snapping back. "It's not like it matters anyway- so you get wet; it's not like you'll be enchanted by the mystical powers of Holy Water." She stretched out with relief on the blanket. They were all feeling sick from the sugar but she took another brownie anyway. "So what's with all the freaked-out ghosts recently? I've never seen anything like it before." Danny winced as he watched her eat. The food was good- Tucker was by no means a bad baker- but enough was enough.  
  
    "Some scary ghost is causing trouble in the Ghost Zone, I don't know." His hand reached out by itself and picked up a vanilla muffin. He unwrapped it. "It's pretty spooky and everyone seems tense, but so what? We've seen this stuff before."  
  
     Sam crumpled up a wrapper and tossed it at him. It curved lazily in the air. "If something's going down you need to know about it. Especially if Tucker and I are stuck in Missouri learning about abstinence." Danny winced again.  
  
    "That is so gross. And don't worry about it- I'm on the case. I just want a couple of hours of peace and quiet, with no ghosts and no thinking about ghosts."  
  
    "Fair enough," Tucker said as he pushed a container away from his head. The grass was cooler than the tablecloth and he slithered over to it. "Hey, you wanna take any of these home?"  
                          
  
                        *  
  
  
Paulina's squeal yanked Danny across Amity Park's skyline. It was another night where the cars bled heat waves, where the total absence of any wind made the darkness stagnant and tinny, and he had just begun to be thankful for how silent the evening had been. He forced some wind to comb through his hair as he cut through the sky. He followed the cry of distress to one of the more affluent areas of town. Here the stores were made of red brick and lattice windows, which looked particularly delicate when they were smashed along the sidewalk. He saw her backed into a wall, shrill and terrified as the scariest man Danny had ever seen loomed over her.   
  
    He was a ghost. His hair was wild and he wore furs and leather around a massive body that bulged with strength and adrenaline. He glowed with a green aura and the skin of his hands and upper face- the only places where his body touched the outer world- was white. The moment Danny landed the man abandoned Paulina and rounded upon him, drawing up to full, towering height. It was as if he were looking into the eyes of a scorpion. There was no humanity in them, not even a glimmer of recognition. Danny didn't even have time to throw out a line of banter before the ghost had drawn out a sword. In such big hands it looked like a knife, and the intimacy of such a short weapon only made it seem crueller. "Uh, miss?" He kept eye contact with the hateful shade and began to tread backwards, like he was backing away from a bear. "You might want to hide."  
  
    Paulina had slid to the floor. She watched the Ghost Boy back away and picked herself up, dusting shards of brick from her calves. Footstep by footstep she edged along the building, staring at the two ghosts. Every move she made was slow and careful as scenes from Jurassic Park cropped up in her memory. This ghost was no reptile. She gave him time to act. He raised his massive arm with an inhuman roar and sliced his sword towards Danny. Danny leapt back, sucking in his stomach and only just managing to avoid being messily eviscerated.  
  
    "Holy-!" He looked up in betrayal, not used to things getting so serious so fast. The gigantic man looked grim and uninterested. He swiped again and Danny's feet left the ground. He didn't dare put too much of a distance between them in case this monster rounded again on Paulina. Energy swept down his spine and out to his dead nerve endings as he summoned a blast of energy. A flash of green light erupted from his fists and smacked into the ghost's chest. "Ha!" The blast did nothing. The man's clothing hadn't even been singed.   
  
    That was okay, Danny reasoned. That happened a lot. Some ghosts just had more armor than a skinny teenage boy in spandex. He had no time to think up another ideas, though, before the now irritated Norseman stabbed forward. Swerving far enough to avoid the blow sent Danny off balance and he was unable to find neutral ground in midair. He had no time to right himself, every second was spent trying to avoid the next blow. He twisted and flipped, scampering back as tiny chunks of hair and fabric was stripped from him. "Wait, hang on! Will you stop for just one second?!" he yelled. The ghost looked at him. His blade erupted in flames. "Seriously?!"  
  
    The ghost's voice was so low it sent vibrations through his gut. "I have no time for whelps."  
  
    "I could say exactly the same thing." He grasped the thermos strapped to his waist and pointed it towards him. He blinked and the force of a car crash rocketed up his shoulders. When he looked down there was no thermos in his hand. It landed with a clunk next to Paulina's feet. He wanted to scream at her to run but that would only remind this guy that she was there. They made eye contact across the battlefield, the titan standing between them, and he made a pleading look for her to flee down the street. The ghost followed his gaze and Danny let out a gasp of fear. He snapped forward, cutting through the air as the ghost strode forward with his blazing sword held high. Paulina's shrill scream sliced through his head again and he followed it like a wire strung through his ear canals. He reached her first and grabbed her shoulders. It would only take him a moment to turn intangible but as a black shadow fell across him he saw the blow meant for Paulina. Something hot and sharp hit his face. The pain was so sudden, so severe that all thoughts of escape evacuated his head and nothing was left but the existence of that pain. He saw green light, then white light, then Paulina's continued screaming distracted him.  
  
    "Fly! Get us out of here!" He blindly gripped onto her waist and shot upwards. Their bodies dispersed into the midnight air.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I should be uploading weekly so I have time to finish this to a decent standard, but I couldn't wait to post more and got a nice book about editing that got me all excited. Let me know what you think! I'm always happy for feedback and criticism.

  
Danny hurtled through rooftops, spires and satellite dishes, barely clearing them as fear drove him forward. Something wet was pooling between his eyelids and he didn't dare open his eyes to let in whatever it was. The pain felt like a blanket covering his face. He gripped Paulina to his chest and felt her cling back.  
  
    "You have to land!" she called above the wind. Her voice whistled into the vacuum before it reached his ears. He heard something but it reached him as a wordless mewl and, distracted by terror, it barely mattered to him. She grabbed his shoulders and yanked down, making him twist in midair and aim for the ground. Windows hurtled past them, thwipping one after another until Danny felt her cringe in his hold. "Stop!" He screeched to a halt and pulled up, stopping an inch from the ground. He heard her speak. "Are you okay? You look hurt."  
  
    Danny staggered back and tried to open his eyes but his eyelids refused to crack apart. Paulina shuffled out of his arms and he felt her drop to her feet, then take his hand and pull him down. He shook his head and avoided her touch like a flinching animal. "Whatever that guy did, it kills," he said as he brought his fist up.  
  
    "No don't touch it!" Paulina grabbed his hand and pulled it down. She reached forward and took Danny's face in her hands. He felt her thumbs brush at the corners of his eyes and tried to pull back, but she only tugged him back forward. Something soft- he assumed it was her sleeve- dabbed across his eyes and soaked up the liquid. "Stop fidgeting or I'll poke you." After everything that had just happened she sounded calm. "Can you open your eyes?"  
  
    He finally did, and Paulina could see the damage. The skin around his eyes had been seared in a long white streak by the fire. The wound covered his eyes like a ragged bandit mask and bit at his eyebrows, framing every expression. The blade beneath the fire had hacked at his nose and left a deep scar in its bridge. His eyes no longer held pupils. Or perhaps they did, but when the sword had hit him they had taken so much scarring and damage that they were now white orbs too opaque to use. She waved her fingers in front of his face and received no response. Ectoplasm was splattered across his face and no matter how many times she wiped it away he kept producing more. He waited in her hold, looking up at her like a trapped dog. Finally she spoke. "Can you see anything?"  
      
    "...No." Danny hesitated as logic caught up with him. Horror replaced dopamine, the pain was replaced with sickness, and he drew back. "Oh my God."  
  
    "Ghost Boy?"  
  
    Danny didn't know if ghosts could hyperventilate but he held a hand over his mouth anyway as he tried to think. He could feel the dread of what had just happened trickle down his back like slime. He spoke after a few bloated seconds, floating in midair as he gnawed his lip. Eyebrows knotted, he was on the verge of tears."Look, can you get home from here?"  
  
    "Sure, it's not far," Paulina said as she wiped green fluid off her hands. Danny felt her touch his wrist. "What about you?"  
  
  
*  
  
  
Paulina's fork tapped against her plate. Dash winced with every clink as he tried to eat his sandwich. She hadn't spoken all day and kept releasing long, pitiable sighs. He'd risen above it so far, familiar with her tactics, but it was finally too irritating to stand. He folded his arms around his bag lunch.  
  
    "Alright fine, what's up?"  
  
    "What?" she sighed deeply, selling the melodrama, "I was just thinking to myself, that's all."  
  
    "Mmhmm."  
  
    "But since you want to know so badly," she continued, "It's about the Ghost Boy."  
  
    "Mmhmm."  
  
    "He saved me from this really big, gross ghost man, but I think he's been seriously hurt. Do you think I should go and find him? Bring him some cookies to help him feel better?" Dash's attention finally zoned in.  
  
    "Seriously? He's hurt? I didn't even know you could hurt a ghost."  
  
    "Uh, duh, yes you can. That's how he defends us in the first place- are you even listening?"  
  
    Dash sank back down and glanced about the cafeteria, searching for rescue again. The Ghost Boy was cool. Paulina's twittering on the subject was not.  He heard another lovestruck sigh and groaned. "I can't believe how selfless he was. He was so brave, I don't even care that he can't see anymore."  
  
    Dash cursed at the way he'd been dragged back into the conversation, his interest piquing again. "What, like permanently?"  
  
    "I don't know- maybe? Do you think I should go and help him?"  
  
    "What're y-"  
  
    "Alright, if you say so." She set her knife and fork together on the plate. "After school I'll go and see if he needs someone to take care of him."  
  
    "Sure, okay whatever." He saw flaws in her plan but refused to raise them.  
  
    They were packing up to leave the cafeteria when a crowd of students ran screaming past. A green hue flushed down the corridor and three ghosts burst through the doors. They were inhuman spirits- part way between an octopus and some sort of carnivorous plant- and Paulina had seen them before. The Ghost Boy had torn them apart in seconds. Dash let out a yell of terror and joined the throng as sirens erupted one after another and the nearest ghost-hunting squad was called. Casper High had installed anti-ghost protocols a while ago. She followed the crowd to the designated ghost-attack zone and stood with her fellow classmates as Mr. Lancer ducked and checked them off a list. She kept her gaze on the sky while the current of students flowed around her.  
  
    The Fentons arrived with an arsenal as the students milled on the grass, trampling benches and road signs with their RV. The ghosts were only further enraged by the chaos and screeched as lasers shot in all directions. Completely misreading the threat level, the Fenton RV's power was increased and the beams blew holes into the side of the school building. The students threw themselves on the ground and scattered in all directions. Paulina rolled beneath a bench and gathered her hair over her shoulder to keep it away from the wads of chewing gum that lined the wood. Still no sign of the Ghost Boy.  
  
    "Don't worry, kids!" Maddie swung her head out of a side window and effected her mightiest voice. "These ghosts are no match for the Fenton Phantom-Phaser!" Presumably Jack thumped a button inside the cockpit because give more guns unfolded from the roof. Paulina ducked into the panicking crowd and disappeared.  
  
  
*  
  
  
"Ghost Boy?" She wandered through the quieter streets of Amity Park, hands cupped around her mouth. Strategy had never been her strong point. "Yoohoo? Ghost Boy? Where are you?"  
  
    She took a left down an alley, dodging trash cans and dumpsters. Normally she avoided these sorts of areas, but it seemed like the majority of ghost fighting went down in grimy and secret places. Taking in a deep breath, voice rising in frustration she called out again, "Ghost Boy!"  
  
    The air shifted at her side and dropped in temperature. Her skin erupted in goosebumps and she rubbed at her arm to make them subside. "It's okay," she continued, excitement rising, "There's nobody around. Are your eyes any better?" She heard his voice before he reappeared.  
  
    "Uh, no. I don't think this is a temporary deal." His body slowly solidified, limb by limb like the Cheshire Cat as he felt out where the obstacles were. His hand met a dumpster and he clambered up to sit in the rim. "You came looking for me?"  
  
    Danny had spent the night in his ghost form, flitting invisibly around the rooftops while trying to find a place to spend the night. He couldn't go home, he couldn't stay with friends, and after the first hour he'd gotten himself so turned around that he couldn't have found his way to any of these places even if he'd wanted to. It was a good thing Paulina's voice was so loud, because the sound of it had acted as a lighthouse. He looked straight ahead as she spoke, despite her standing to one side. "Sure- you've always looked out for me. You're like a guardia- didn't I tell you to stop touching it?!" Danny felt his hands get slapped away from his face and the suddenness of it made him yelp in fright and fall backwards into the trash. The noise rocketed off the sides of the alley and deafened the both of them. He clambered back out of the dumpster, clinging to the lip like a wet cat to the side of a bath.  
  
    "Oh my God! Paulina!"  
  
    Hearing her name said like that made her heart skip a beat. She tried not to giggle - she'd never spoken to him for so long and he seemed so human. Climbing up beside him, she put her hand on his knee. If Danny had blood in his ghost form he would have gone bright pink, but the feel of her physical presence helped to orient him and he brought himself up to sit again. "Okay okay, no more messing with it. How does it look?"  
  
    "It's actually not that bad," Paulina flicked his fringe away from his eyes and smiled at the way his nose twitched. The wound over his eyes had healed as much as it could and had turned white. "I think scars are sexy." She watched him cough in embarrassment, bring his wrist up to scratch at the scar, then stop himself and lower it down to his lap.  
  
    "Thanks," he smiled for the first time. "But sexy doesn't get rid of ghosts."  
  
    "Neither do Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," she said. Hearing his parents mentioned sent a kick of misery through his guts as all of his problems came back to the forefront of his mind. Paulina watched his face fall, the expression made more intense by the scar cutting into his eyebrows. "Don't worry though! There's no reason you can't fight ghosts again."  
  
    "Uh, there is kind of a little one."  
  
    Paulina smacked his shoulder, then quickly grabbed him around the waist to keep him from toppling back into the dumpster. "You just need come confidence!" Danny turned to look at her for the first time and raised an eyebrow at her. Gazing into his white eyes reminded her of old statues of Catholic saints. Realising her hand was still on his knee, she drew it back and took up his hand in both of hers. Danny's frown dropped away and revealed a more despairing and more honest expression. He was finally holding Paulina's hand and he couldn't even see her to enjoy it. He moved to snatch his hand away but completely stilled when she squeezed his fingers. "Are you staying anywhere right now?" her voice was soft.  
  
    "Uh, no..." his voice rose in question. "Not technically. Why?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Chapter 3! I have to say, trying to sum up the number of problems Danny now has is really hard and researching Paulina's house with a crappy internet connection is even harder. It's in, like, one episode (episode 2) but if I've gotten something wrong do let me know. I love to learn.
> 
> Also, thanks for the lovely messages so far! It really gives me motivation to keep posting :) and lights a warmth in my belly.

  
Danny stayed out of sight and gripped onto Paulina's shoulder as she walked them home. Paulina's body burned through her cashmere jumper and scalded his palm, the difference in their temperature drawing energy into him. He was always aware of the strength of his hold, how much his fingers fidgeted and how close they were. During that fifteen minute walk, his world consisted of her heat, her perfume and the rustling of the quiet streets. He floated nearer to her, his cold form sucking in the warmth.   
  
    Paulina's vast townhouse took up the entire street. It had once been part of a terraced community but her father had bought up the whole block and transformed it into a sprawling warren of expensive furniture, antiques and children. The sounds of young boys screaming were coming from a room tucked somewhere in the belly of the mansion and an older, matronly voice scolded them. Paulina had led him around the back to stand in the manicured garden. It had once been a community park.  
  
    "Okay, Ghost Boy," she broke the silence. Her voice, with its heady and pouting accent, sounded amused. "My Mom's going to be home- can you fly us through my window?"  
  
    Danny became even more aware of the empty space surrounding him. "I have no idea." Paulina gleefully threw her arms around his neck and leapt into his arms, which sent him staggering forward with a disoriented splutter. He knew exactly where his hands were as he cupped her thighs.  
  
    "Okay, you wanna go up and then to the left- I'll steer."  
  
    "You'll what?"  
      
    "Just go!" her voice dropped as the sounds within her house grew louder. "Trust me!"  
      
    Danny flew straight up, vanishing them both and trying not to imagine crashing into something. He also did his best not to feel how pliable her body was- she was so limber that she oozed into his grip like a housecat. She was so warm. There was a yank at his collar and he jolted in the new direction. "Gah!"  
  
    "I'm three windows down. Would you mind easing up? You're gripping me too hard." She sounded amused again. He noticed how hard he had begun to cling to her and he didn't know whether this was out of fear or protectiveness but he only barely loosened his hold. She grabbed his collar once more and he braced himself as she yanked back on it, forcing him to a stop.   
    "That really hurts, you know."  
  
    She writhed like an unwilling pet and fell from his arms. He heard the soles of her shoes hit solid ground. He only let himself become visible again once she promised him they were out of sight, at which point she took his hand and led him inside. The wide balcony that rimmed her room came as no surprise.  
  
    Her bedroom would have made a princess jealous. It was stuffed with lace, pink satin and mirrors, all carefully arranged to let the breeze through and give as much space as possible. Paulina turned around and saw the undisguised worry on the Ghost Boy's face as he stood in the centre, pinching at his fingers and waiting for any noise that could signal an intruder. Something nurturing in her sprang to life and she crossed the floor to cup his face in her hands. His skin was cool and as she brushed her thumbs over them she noticed that the scars were cooler. He jumped and opened his mouth to apologise, but she cooed over him. "Don't worry, we're fine- my family has a strict knocking policy." Danny nodded, then took a step away from her. She watched as he rubbed at the patch she had touched.  
  
    "Cool. Uh, thanks. I swear this is only for a night at the most." Danny had never felt more worthless or humiliated. He could feel the pity radiating from her.   
  
    "Don't be silly," Paulina said, perching on the edge of her four-poster bed, "This is an honour- you're a hero!" Those words were like a gunshot going off behind Danny's ear. He reeled around to the sound of her voice, trying not to raise his own but unable to keep the appaul out of it.  
  
    "A hero?! Not anymore I'm not! Look at me!"  
  
    "Don't you raise your voice at me!" He heard Paulina stand right back up and took a step away. "I'm not letting you feel sorry for yourself just because of some stupid Viking ghost! You're the Ghost Boy!"  
  
    Danny had become an expert at detecting disappointment in people's voices. For a long time his family had responded to his grades, achievements and personality with affection but an undeniable air of disappointment. They were geniuses, athletes (or at least his mother was- Jack insisted he would have been if not for the fudge), and Jaz had continued that legacy. As Jack had often said; she had always been his favourite. He had never been able to keep up and hadn't tried to since he was in elementary school. That same disappointment had rumbled through psychologists, school faculty, then through his friends. People who appreciated him for who he was and what he did but could never quite say he had never let them down. They always expected just a little more than he could give. They always expected something just a little too close to perfection. There was no disappointment in Paulina's voice. He had never realised how empowering her crush on 'the Ghost Boy' had been, and to realise he hadn't lost that filled him with a new foundation.  
  
    "Why are you smiling?" She asked. He loved the sound of her.   
  
    "What's the plan?"  
  
    He heard her shuffle back onto her bed and lifted his feet up to sit cross-legged in midair. "I'm not sure," she said, her anger evaporating, "but we'll think of something, even if I have to give you directions the entire time." Paulina liked the thought of being useful to the Ghost Boy. "You're not giving up- I'm not having you weenie out." Despite everything a bark of laughter escaped Danny's chest.  
  
    "What?"  
  
    "You're not giving up," she repeated, moving on. "Besides, if everyone thinks you're a loser  they'll all think I have a bad taste in boys." The bluntness of her admission, though he already knew it, knocked Danny off guard. With a stammer he replied,  
  
    "G-good point."  
  
    "Come and sit next to me," Paulina continued, her voice remaining gentle. Fear flushed through Danny's body, but he floated over to her and felt his way down to the mattress. Paulina's dainty hands guided him to sit beside her. She put her arm around his waist and Danny didn't dare breathe. He felt impotent next to her, staring forward with featureless eyes. Her perfume was mature and spicy, definitely expensive, but it was faint. It mingled with the smell of her laundry detergent and bathed her in a flowery scent that rubbed off on him and made his chest pound. "Do you know the Fentons?" That snapped him straight back to reality.  
  
    "Uh, kind of?"  
  
    Paulina watched him carefully. She could feel the angle of the Ghost Boy's hipbones under her fingers and she was afraid of moving now that she had placed herself so close. She couldn't make a move now, she knew he was likely to attribute anything she did to pity. Instead she snuggled up without giving him enough of a reason to move away. The way he emoted- his twisting looks of anger, worry and humour- was so powerful. He used his jaw and the muscles in his throat more than other boys she knew. He was as mercurial as she was- he could snap into rage and flip around to fear or laughter in a moment. He was insecure. She was too. She noticed that her own face had come closer to his and was inches from his cheek. He could tell, he was holding his breath. She drew back and giggled. "You're funny, Ghost Boy."  
  
    "Uh-huh," he squeaked.  
  
    "I was just going to say that they make all kinds of weird stuff- maybe there's something there that could fix you?" He shook his head and turned to face her. Without body temperature, breath or a heartbeat there were no signs of how shy he felt, for which he silently thanked the heavens.  
  
    "Nothing springs to mind. I could have a look- they have radars and stuff, but you still need to see 'em to read 'em."  
  
    Paulina hummed. "Until you can steal something I guess I'll be your eyes. Do you wanna stay over? You can sleep in my closet." Danny laughed again.  
  
    "Seriously, I know I'm a ghost but living in your wardrobe?"Paulina smiled and stood up, taking the Ghost Boy by the shoulders and leading him to a door out of her room. She opened it and pushed him inside.   
  
    "It's not a wardrobe."  
  
    Her walk-in closet was more like a clothing boutique. It was twenty feet from end to end and filled with racks of dresses, tops, jeans, shoes and more jewelery than an Egyptian queen. It took Danny far too long to walk from beginning to end and as he felt around, meeting nothing but more fabric, he marvelled at how many outfits a girl who wore the same thing every day had. "Jesus!"  
  
    "I'll get you a bedroll. Don't worry- nobody's allowed in here. Except you, now."  
  
    From somewhere in the depths of the mansion a bell rang for supper. She jumped up and dashed to the door. "Hold on for an hour, okay? I'll bring you up some leftovers, unless you want to get takeout?"  
  
    "Leftovers?" Danny grinned again, "I guess that'll be cool."  
  
    He heard the door shut, then fell back to recline in the air. He had to let his world resettle.  It felt like everything real had been cut away from him, leaving him in a dark, imaginary world. Without her around all the humour he'd managed to generate left him. As his good mood drew away with her footsteps his confidence disappeared and he floated down to hit the floor. Sat on the carpet he realised how pathetic this was. How pathetic this must look to Paulina. How his life was over, and how despite her determination he was doomed to failure. He had lost the war against the ghosts- one battle was all it would take to go out with a whimper. As he hugged his knees he hoped she'd come back soon.  
  
    And if she did? He'd never be Danny again. He remembered his previous fears of secrecy, how it'd take one look at the matching scars and matching disability to see that Danny and the Ghost Boy were the same creature. This secret was impossible to keep. His parents would find out and he couldn't even imagine the number of emotions they'd feel but he knew he couldn't deal with it. Then the pitying words of his friends, of the school, of everyone- he'd be the sad story of a hero who couldn't handle it. He ran his fingers into his hair and dug his thumbs into the scars.   
  
    Paulina returned after dinner. He looked up to the sound of the door opening and heard her walk towards him. She ran a hand through his hair and sat down next to him. "You'll be okay. Once when I was younger I bleached my hair- it looked really bad, but I got used to it and learned how to coordinate the colours and eventually everything thought it looked really cute. So you see? People can adapt to anything." Danny shocked himself with his own laughter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And chapter 4, where the romance part of the drama/romance starts. I have about four more chapters written at this point but they need serious editing. And then only four more to write after that :P it's a real odyssey.

  
Danny was met with a scream the next morning, as he opened the closet door. "Get back in there! I'm not ready!"  
  
    "Uh..." Danny pointed to his eyes but was smacked by a cushion she had hurled across the room. "Gah!"  
  
    "That's not the point! Back!" He ducked behind the door again and waited. Sometimes Jaz took a while to get ready in the mornings as she hogged the bathroom and covered the countertops in coloured dust. Even Sam would spend at least twenty minutes putting on make-up in the mornings, grabbing at eyeshadow and mascara after a slumber party. This, however, was an entirely new level of alchemy. He heard clattering noises and the sounds of jars being popped open. It felt like he was trapped in that closet for hours as she smeared her face with lotions and tonics, pinned her hair back and drew over her eyes as hairpins stuck out from her teeth. He had given up on ever being released and was preparing to phase through the ceiling when he heard her call. "Okay! You can come out now!"  
  
    Danny floated into her room. He kept rolling his shoulder to force out the stiffness left by the bedroll, tucking his elbow close to his body to avoid knocking into imaginary obstacles. Her perfume was stronger than before and he could smell the fat of lipsticks, foundation and concealer. He heard rustling as she packed for school, which reminded him with a sick sinking in his stomach that he had to show up there at some point. If he missed too many days they'd phone his parents.  
  
    "Yoohoo, Earth to Ghost Boy?" He snapped around to the sound of Paulina's voice.   
  
    "Mm?"  
  
    "I said, what are you going to do while I'm at school?"  
  
    "I guess I'll tag along," he said, scratching his head, "Have a look around." He needed her to guide him there. He knew that his plan was just delaying the inevitable, but desperately clinging to the status quo was all the hope he had.   
  
  
*  
  
  
Danny separated from Paulina once they arrived. She had held his hand the whole way and now as he stood in a men's room cubicle he wiggled his fingers to try and get rid of the burning sensation she'd left there. He changed back to his human self and patted his hair over his eyes, shouldering his way out and shuffling into the corridor. From his locker he grabbed an old sports hoodie and threw it on, running his fingers over the seams to make sure it was the right way out and folding himself into it in an attempt to take up as little space as possible. If nobody looked at him too closely he could get away with this for maybe a day. Life was moving too fast to think up any longer-term plan than this. He was still kicking just to keep his head above water- he had barely thought about how to fix anything.  
  
    The sounds of the students babbled past him like a river and he stood against the current as an island. He trailed his fingers along the wall as he walked past, counting the steps in his head and trying to keep his mental map of the school firm. When a voice came too close he pushed himself to the side and always listened out for the squeaky, mid-puberty screech of Dash Baxter. He had underestimated how difficult this would be. Navigation was hard, but acting natural was even harder. He bent his head and stuffed his free hand in the front pocket of his jumper as the other hand kept a tight hold of the wall. He compressed into himself as much as he could and kept pulling his hood down, terrified that a flash of white skin would give him away. The lockers that rifled past under his hand rose and fell in waves as they gave way to the bare wall, to a fire extinguisher, to doors and water fountains. He began to get used to judging the distance of other people by their volume.   
  
    Paulina's laughter rang down the hall. His stomach clenched. She'd seen the Ghost Boy staggering around sightless and seeing Danny do the same thing might be all it took to ruin everything. Losing focus for that second disoriented him and their shoulders collided. The jolt was so sudden that he almost fell over, feeling the vibration shudder across his collarbones. He bumped around her and held up his hands in apology, head ducked. He got in response was an irritated snap. "Watch where you're going!"   
  
    When he finally made it to his first class he bumped his knee on a desk.  
  
    "Eyes open, Mister Fenton," their math teacher didn't even look up from the blackboard. Danny shuffled into his chair, heart pounding.  
  
    "Sorry ma'am!" He folded his arms on the desk and hoped she wouldn't notice that he had no bag, no textbooks and no pens. The students muttered to one another in an ocean of voices, passing notes and gossiping about everything other than him. He was surprised that the teacher hadn't called for silence - surely the class wasn't always this loud. He heard from a conversation behind him that the ghost attack on the school had left chasms in the grass and a chunk had been taken out of the woodworking block. A few disparaging comments about the Fentons crossed him, since they had caused the majority of the damage, but were counteracted by a few pining compliments for the Ghost Boy. He kept his head down until the bell rang, always ready for someone to look his way. Nobody did.  
  
    He walked straight into Dash at lunch. The bigger male didn't even move when Danny knocked into the back of him- it was like walking into a wall of beef. He staggered back two steps, then was swept into the air and bashed into the lockers by fists the size of footballs. "Damnit Fenton! Keep your hands to yourself!" Danny gripped Dash's hands with his own and tried to wriggle free. He could feel the metal lockers creaking back under the pressure. A cloud of perfume wafted into his face and he realised that Paulina had to be next to him. His toes curled when he heard her voice.  
  
    "Maybe if you got a haircut you wouldn't be such a klutz." He could see her in his mind's eye, standing there with her hip cocked and her arms folded with a sneer on her face. He struggled harder.   
  
    "Get off me!"  
  
    Dash shoved him again, pounding him into the rattling lockers. The movement sent his head back in a whiplash and flashed his hair out from his eyes.   
  
    Paulina saw the state of Danny's face, the long white scar covering his eyes and the gash over his nose. She leapt upon Dash with such suddenness that he squealed, dropping Danny and backing up. "Put him down!"  
  
    "Woah, what the hell are you doing?! Are you crazy?!" Dash rubbed at the back of his hand where Paulina's false nails had left scratches.   
  
    "Shoo! Leave him alone! Get out of here!" She stood in front of Danny and pushed him back into the lockers as he tried to slide away, pinning him just as effectively as Dash had. Glaring the bully down, she dominated the big man. After a few tense seconds he threw up his hands.  
  
    "Fine! If you wanna be the dweeb's best friend be my guest!" He trotted away with as much dignity as possible, ears bright pink. As Danny attempted to skulk to freedom Paulina turned, gripping his wrists and pulling him around the corner to the nearest supply closet.  
  
    "Uh, P-Paulina this isn't what it-"  
  
    "Don't worry, Ghost Boy- I got you."  
  
    Danny's insides were whipped into a frenzy. He didn't know whether he was happy to have an ally or so tired of everything changing that he just wanted to shut down. The door shut and the scent of cleaning bleach and dust hit him.  
  
    Paulina brought them both kneeling on the floor without bothering to turn on the light. She brought her fingertips to his cheeks and felt Danny flinch in just the same way as the Ghost Boy had. She shuffled up closer and squinted in the darkness at Danny's white eyes, her own flitting up and down the scar while checking for injuries. She could see that, underneath the clouds, there were two sightless blue rings and a greyed-out pupil. "Wow Danny, you're Inviso-Bill?"  
  
    "Personal space? And please just call me Danny," he sighed, growing tense. "This is dangerous, we shouldn't be in here."  
  
    "Don't be such a worrier," he heard her say, voice heavy with care and good humour, "Nobody's going to come in." Danny suddenly remembered a dozen fantasies of his and did his best not to gulp. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? That's pretty creepy of you."  
  
    "What?!" He frowned, making his nose crinkle and the gash at the bridge snarl like a wolf. Paulina saw it and felt a rush of attraction flow from her heart to her fingertips. "That was your idea! I didn't do any-" He was silenced by her forehead touching his. Her hair smelled of warm coconut.  
  
    "I was just kidding, Danny. Don't take everything so serious." She drew away from him. There were a few seconds of silence and then an intake of breath. "Oh my gosh. Everything suddenly makes so much sense! And... ohh... You can't go home like this, huh? Your parents would freak out." Danny nodded. The internal tornado died down as a tentative happiness crept in.   
  
    "You won't tell anyone?"  
  
    "No way!" she laughed, "I wouldn't do that to you. You're the Ghost Boy."  
  
    "You keep saying that," he grinned, feeling that friendship they'd had last night return. "And thanks."  
  
    "So who else knows?" Paulina asked as she wiggled into a cross-legged sit.  
  
    "Jaz, Sam and Tucker. Nobody else has any idea."  
  
    "Really? Hey, are you and Sam dating?" Danny was about to reply when he heard a door creak. He bolted upright in panic as Paulina spun around. A beam of light hit them both, then there was a weight on Danny's thighs and her warm, sticky lips hit his. A panicked yelp left him as he was assaulted by Paulina's perfume and the intimate smell of her skin. Her lips were soft and covered with lip gloss. They were so plush that he couldn't feel her teeth or any hardness through them, just flesh and the taste of watermelon.  
  
    "The Fault in Our Stars!" Mr. Lancer's voice hit him from somewhere in the distance but he was too drugged on her perfume to care. "This is a school, not the backseat of a car!"  
  
    Paulina pretended to be shocked and pressed Danny's head to her chest, hiding Danny's face and delighting his soul. Turning her head she gave Mr. Lancer a humiliated look. "Yes sir! Could you give us thirty seconds please?" The door slammed shut again and Danny was yanked upright. "You okay?" Danny could barely speak.  
  
    "Uh-huh... Was that Lancer?" His voice was all over the place. She giggled and pulled him to his feet.  
  



End file.
